IR cameras can be used in a number of different situations, for example, when inspecting buildings or walls looking for areas with missing or bad insulation, structural damages, for example missing reinforcements, cracks in concrete walls, moisture, or water damages.
An infrared (IR) camera is used for capturing, displaying and storing thermal images. In addition to the thermal data of the captured objects other types of information, for example text and/or voice comments, visual images and environmental data, can also be digitally attached to the thermal image.
It is of great interest not only to view the thermal images but also to be able to tell the different temperatures of different objects, or parts of objects, in the thermal image, to analyze and draw the right conclusion from the data, and to take appropriate action.
However, a thermal image represents the temperature of an object or objects and may differ significantly from a visual image. This leads to difficulties in interpreting and identifying the location of objects shown in the infrared image. The difficulties and uncertainties in interpreting the infrared images also slow down the inspections since the operator often has to look closer and from different angles to be really sure that he has identified the right target, in which the thermal anomaly is actually found.
Further, it can also lead to an operator completely missing a thermal anomaly since the thermal anomaly is not clearly defined and could be hard to recognize just by looking at the thermal image.
Therefore, there is a need to have thermal images presented in a way easy to understand and interpret.